40% of the 16-25 age-group in the United Kingdom
are either atheist or agnostic (Gallup - Telegraph, Nov 1999). Despite
this, the needs and concerns of atheist and agnostic students are being
ignored by religious education in the UK. Worse, they are often the
subject of active religious discrimination.

Religious leaders commonly abhor the decline in
religious observance on the basis that this leads to immoral behaviour.
In fact, Atheism Central maintains that there is no link between
moral behaviour and religious behaviour. It is certainly wrong to
teach children about religions and moral behaviour without also informing
them of sources of moral guidance outside religion. For those who reject
religion religious belief is contrary to common sense. They need to
think through a common sense path to the reasons for behaving morally.
Religious education classes should make it easier for them by looking
closely for reasons for moral behaviour that do not rely on a religious
foundation. Do not throw out the moral baby with the religious bathwater.

This site aims to provide
support for atheists and for the parents of atheist secondary school
students attending religious studies courses in secondary schools in
the United Kingdom (age range 11-18). Younger
students may need some parental, or teacher, support. Hopefully it will
also be of interest to atheists and agnostics in general.

The site has a twofold objective and has been under
continuous development from its initial launch in February 1999.
This is to demonstrate the following:

FALSE: God(s) exist(s)

TRUE: There is/are no god(s)

FALSE: Atheists are immoral, atheistic morality is impossible
and life is absurd or meaningless or worthless if atheism is true.

TRUE: Atheists are as moral as anyone else,
atheistic morality is both possible and the norm and life is not absurd
or meaningless or worthless if atheism is true.

If you would like to support this site with your written contributions
please mail me.

Thought Experiment Poll
- completed

Alien invaders want
our planet. They guarantee perfect happiness for
everyone alive in return for the sterility of the
human race. When human beings have become extinct
the aliens will take the planet for themselves.

A human resistance group
can guarantee to defeat the aliens forever but most
people now alive will die in the conflict. The survivors
will be able to continue the human race.

Would you...

Accept the aliens' offer of perfect happiness
in return for extinction?

Support the resistance group although it
means the death of most people in the conflict?

Result:
only 13 percent chose to accept the alien's offer (and
would, I suspect, change their minds if confronted with
a real situation). The rest opted for a life of misery
to achive the survival of the species. 'Happiness' in
the ordinary sense of the word - enjoying yourself - is
clearly not in itself our purpose in life or a measure
of our success.

Parents' support is also available at Atheist
Parenting which is a discussion board. Although most correspondents
are American the topics covered seem equally appropriate for atheist
parents worldwide.

Atheism Central for Secondary Schools
is recognised by
the British Humanist Association

Permission is given to reproduce original material from this web site,
whole or in part, anywhere on the internet provided authorship is recognised
and a link is returned to this site. Students may use any of the material
in their homework.

Newsletter - just send an e-mail to think@writeme.com
with the word 'newsletter' in the subject line. You will receive up
to 6 newsletters per year.

If you would like to contact other atheists of
school age please write giving your name, age and country of residence.

The Ancient Egyptian Goddess
Bast was a female black cat. In early Christian times the Egyptian religion
was alive and well - certain elements of it being well-known throughout
the Roman Empire - so church leaders claimed that black cats were demons.
This simple form of propaganda and misinformation is paralleled in the
Moslem religion which spent much of its history in direct confrontation
with Zoroastrianism. Dogs play an important part in the Zoroastrian
religion and are treated almost as if they were human. Islam reacted
against this by teaching that dogs were unclean animals. Although Zoroastrianism
has ceased being a threat to Islam the teaching continues to the present
day. Of course, there is nothing demonic about black cats, and nothing
especially unclean about dogs. Meanwhile, superstitions persist about
black cats and many Moslem countries are deprived of guide dogs for
the blind, drugs sniffer dogs and the like. There is some improvement
here in the UK where an initiative has begun to permit guide dogs into
mosques (2008).

Eclipses are famously associated
with superstition and evil portents. What we do not understand can often
frighten us.